The Hard Travelers
Dave Sharp had been happily touring a solo acoustic set around the country for some years since coming home from the States, but he missed the feel of sharing the stage with a band. He set out to create a band which could bring the music of Woody Guthrie to a wider audience. The Hard Travelers represents the coming together of Dave Sharp, lead guitarist with The Alarm, who had several top 10 hits worldwide, and legendary guitarist Henry McCullough, who has been in international charts with Paul MacCartney's Wings, and Joe Cocker's Grease Band - including the seminal Woodstock appearance in 1979. The first lineup included Zoot Money, (The Animals), Gary Fletcher, (The Blues Band) and Colin Allen, (Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker} but after some problems of getting the band together from homes in Spain, Sweden and London the latter three parted amicably. At this point they had only played three gigs in 2008 - debut gig in Southsea, followed by two festivals, Trowbridge Pump and Black Horse, Hastings.
Sharp then recruited two members of the late Joe Strummer's backing band The Mescaleros - Steve "Smiley" Barnard also drummed for Robbie Williams, and Tymon Dogg has worked with a very extensive list of major names, inc. John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page who later formed Led Zeppelin. Smiley introduced unknown but EXCITING bass player with the unlikely name of 'Treasure'. The Hard Travelers are a supergroup in the making looking to get into the studio and out on the road in 2009.
Links
http://www.hardtravelers.org
http://www.davesharp.org